Forever Young
by omalleyanatomy26
Summary: Justin has stomach cancer and has to deal with chemotherapy and radation treatment. Brian helps him during the recovery process and takes care of him.


**I have recently discovered the wonderful show of QAF and my little plot bunnies are being formed :) Please review!**

Brian woke to the sounds of vomitting in the bathroom. He frowned and sat up.

"Justin?" No answer, just more sounds of vomitting. Still half asleep he stumbled towards the bathroom. He saw Justin bending over the toilet.

"Jesus," he whispered as he hurried over to Justin.

"I'm fine," groaned Justin. "Just...ate soemthing that didn't agree with me." Brian handed him a kleenex

"Must have been something some bad fast food," he said, thinking of the dinner they had last night.

"Remind me never to have Burger King again," Justin groaned. He started to cough again. When Brian went to grab more kleenex's he saw blood on the tip of Justin's finger.

"What the hell?" He grabbed Justin's hand and then stared at his face. "Are you coughing up blood?"

Justin jerked his hand away.

"It's nothing, I'm sure it's one of the affects...of food posioning."

"The hell it is...how long have you been coughing up blood Justin?"

Silence greeted him.

"Justin-"

"For the past week or so, okay?" Justin shot back. Brian closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

Justin gave a short laugh.

"Why do you think? Would you have said anything?"

Brain sighed, trying to hold his temper.

"We're going to see a doctor-"

"Like hell!" Justin shot back. "It's nothing..."

"You're coughing up blood! And have been for a week! That's not NOTHING Justin, I don't want to hear another word, we're GOING. Now."

Despite his protests Brian dragged Justin into the car. Justin was too weak to argue as he leaned his head against the window and continued to cough. Brian tried not to glance at him too much as he drove. He kept his fists clinching tightly at the wheel. If anything was wrong with Justin...he pushed that thought out of his mind.

* * *

After what felt like a thousand of tests were preformed Justin and Brian were seated in front of the doctor's office. They had asked to come in for privacy, which instantly filled both with fear even though neither would want to admit it.

"What'w rong with me, doc?" Justin asked, pretending not to notice the lump in his throat. "Give it to me straight, I can take it."

Brian reached over and grasped his hand and squeezed it.

The doctor sighed.

"Will good news is, it's not terminal."

"And the bad news?" Brian asked quietly. He forced his tone to remaine composed.

"The bad news is...I'm afraid you have cancer Mr. Taylor."

Justin blinked and both sat in silence.

"What?" Justin's voice was barely above a whisper.

"What kind of cancer?" Brian spoke for Justin, who at the moment was unalbe to say anything."

"Stomach cancer."

Justin suddenly felt sick again as he clsoed his eyes.

"Stomach cancer?" His voice cracked and Brian hated hearing the fear in it.

"Yes, luckily we caught it before it spread. There's surgery for it as well as chemotherapy and radation treatement."

Justin's eyes widened with fear.

"Surgery? Chemo?" He felt suddenly dizzy.

"When...should he come in for treatment?" Brian asked softly.

"As soon as possible, it's important to stop it before it spreads..." The doctor sighed as he saw the look on Justin's face and pity went out to him. "Mr. Taylor...Justin, I know how horrified you must be but having cancer now isn't like it was a decade ago. The chances of beating this is extremly good."

Justin nodded and swallowed.

"So...if you're able to we would like to ahve the surgery tomorrow-"

"Tomorrow?" Both Brian and Justin said sharply.

"Like I said, as soon as possible. Then you can start the chemo treatement."

Justin closed his eyes and nodded again.

"All right," he said softly. He tried to make his voice remain calm. "Tomorrow it is."

* * *

Justin felt frozen in time almost as they headed to the car.

He couldn't stop replacing that scene over and over. And now tomorrow he would be having surgery.

"Hey," Brian said as he saw the fear in Justin's eyes. They turned to face each other. "Look at me...Justin, are you listening?"

Justin nodded as he avoided eye contact.

"It's going to be okay.I'll be with you tomorrow, you won't have to do it alone."

Justin nodded as he blinked back tears. Brian brushed his bangs from his eyes.

"You WILL beat this. You will survive."

"How can you be so sure?" Justin's voice cracked when he spoke. Brian smiled.

"Because I'm Brian Kinney, and I know everything. You should know that by now."

Justin gave a shaky laugh. Suddenly the laugh turned into a sob, though, and Brian quickly grabbed him into a tight hug. He held him as Justin continued to sob onto his shoulder. Slowly he rocked back and forth and rubbed Justin's back.

"It's okay, everything's going to be okay."

"I'm so scared, Brian...so scared..."

"I know, I've got you though...I've got you...and never letting you go. We'll get through this."

Justin shoulder's continued to shake.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Promise?"

Brian hesitated for a second.

"I promise," he whispered into Justin's ear.

As he held Justin he just wished he could believe his promises but a part of him feared the worst.

Feared that he only fell in love with Justin just to lose him, for forever. Slowly he walked Justin to the car and they drove home in silence. They both prayed that the next day wouldn't come. That this was all a nightmare and they would wake up curled in each other's arms, happy,healthy, and together-forever.

Forever immortal, forever young.

If only reality was as generous as dreams were.

Brian helped walk a weak and exhausted Justin into the room and slowly took off his shirt. Justin was too exhausted to protest. As Brian crawled into bed Justin grabbed his arm.

"Please hold me," he whispered. "Just for tonight..."

"Okay," murmured Brian and inched closer towards Justin. He wrapped his arms around the young mand and both laid there and listened to each other's breaths as they waited for morning to come.


End file.
